ICYMI: The United Nations General Assembly is taking place this week – and less than 10% of the speakers are women (yes, you read that right).
Clearly trying to be on the front foot ahead of an impending media storm, the United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres shared in a post on LinkedIn:
“I am sorry to see that despite years of talk, gender inequality is on full display in the United Nations General Assembly Hall during UNGA. Less than 10% of speakers during this week’s General Debate are women.
“This is unacceptable – especially when we know gender equality delivers for peace, sustainable development, climate action and much more.
“That is precisely why we took targeted measures to achieve gender parity among United Nations senior leadership. It’s doable. I call on male-dominated political and economic establishments around the world to do it.”
For those who aren’t across it: The General Debate of the UN General Assembly is the forum for Heads of State and Government to get together at the UN Headquarters and discuss current affairs, human rights, and other pressing issues. It’s a really important platform – and it’s critical that female voices and perspectives are represented in these spaces.
The fact that less than 10% of the speakers during the General Debate are women obviously points to the global issue of the underrepresentation of women in leadership roles – and the need for more targeted initiatives to drive gender equality at the institutional and government level. The fact that this is still the case in the twenty-first century is still unbelievable – and at the same time we’re also seeing women’s rights curtailed across many countries.
But to me – especially as a young woman who worked at the UN early on in my career – it also points to a broader issue: the UN itself has never had a woman as the Secretary-General (in addition to several other missteps, such as Saudi Arabia being chosen to chair the Commission on the Status of Women, and the unkept secret that the UN Headquarters is itself a boys club).
In 2022, the President of the UN General Assembly Abdulla Shahid publicly called out the UN in an interview: “After 70 years, we should be ashamed…If we can’t find one single woman in seven decades to lead the agency, I think there is absolutely something wrong.”
There’s no excuse for this. It’s not like there are no women anywhere who would nail this role. Not-for-profit PassBlue also recently conducted a survey on the most preferred choices for the United Nations role of Secretary-General:
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Michelle Bachelet, former president of Chile, ex Executive Director of UN Women and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights;
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Mia Motley, Prime Minister of Barbados;
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Maria Fernanda Espinosa Garces, ex foreign minister of Ecuador and former president of UN General Assembly;
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Amina Mohammed, current Deputy Secretary-General.
So it’s clear there are some brilliant female candidates who would excel as Secretary-General – and continue to drive gender equality from the top. So why, election after election, does a man continue to be elected to this role?
Thankfully, the noise is growing louder and louder. UNA-UK is one of the organisations campaigning for a female Secretary-General. Its Chief Executive, Marissa Conway has said: “After nearly 80 years, the male monopoly of the UN’s highest office must end. It’s time for member states to walk the gender equality talk and appoint a woman Secretary-General. States must take this opportunity to help restore faith in the UN and demonstrate that diverse and inclusive leadership is vital to achieving a more equal, sustainable, and peaceful world.”
To me, it’s frustrating to watch UN leadership criticise the underrepresentation of women in the UN General Assembly – while also ignoring the glaringly obvious issue of gender inequality at their own institution, and not calling for a female leader to replace Guterres.